Twitter IPO Catches Market Timing Just Right

Each Monday, MoneyBeat publishes a short column in the WSJ print edition highlighting a statistic getting traction in the markets. This week’s “Big Number” is 55%, the year-to-date gain on the Global X Social Media ETF, which is outpacing the broader market.

The Global X Social Media ETF, an exchange-traded fund holding 27 international social-media companies, is up 55% this year and 21% over the last three months. That beats the S&P 500, which has gained 23% this year and 4% the past three months. It even out paces the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, up 31% this year and 9.4% in the past three months.

Driving the social-media index’s gains this year are its biggest holdings: Facebook Inc., nearly double this year, LinkedIn Corp, more than double this year, and Pandora Media Inc., nearly triple this year.

On top of that, Pinterest Inc. raised $225 million from a group of investors that valued the scrapbooking site with virtually no revenue at $3.8 billion. That valuation is 52% above the one it received after its February fund raising.

By comparison, U.S. stocks began to slide just as Facebook started its roadshow in May 2012. The social-media ETF dropped 7% in the two weeks prior to Facebook’s offering, in line with the market.

By the time Facebook priced its IPO on May 17, 2012, the Global X Social Media ETF was up 7% for the year. That S&P 500 had been up 2.2% and Nasdaq had been up 6.2%.

Timing isn’t everything, but a group of excited investors may be easier to pitch than ones scurrying away from the scene.